UK Act of Parliament 1939 c. 44 United Kingdom

House to House Collections Act 1939

An Act to provide for the regulation of house to house collections for charitable purposes; and for matters connected therewith.

Read the Act on legislation.gov.uk (opens in a new tab)
Enforced by
Local Authority
Status
In Force
Penalty ceiling
Imprisonment 4 of 6 obligations carry a criminal penalty. 1 carries different penalties and 1 has no criminal penalty — flagged in the list below.

Does it bind you?

Business-side roles with duties under this instrument.

Any Person5

Plus 1 duty on the regulator, Crown ministers and public bodies — folded into the section list below.

Other Acts binding the same actors

If a role above is yours, these are the other instruments that most often bind it.

Any Person — also bound by 2340 other Acts

What it requires

Sections creating concrete business duties or carrying penalties, grouped as the instrument is structured. Titles link to the source text — blue means you’re leaving for legislation.gov.uk.

s.001 Charitable collections from house to house to be licensed. (opens in a new tab) Regulated
  • Promote or collect for a charitable house-to-house collection without a licenceAny Person
s.002 Licences. (opens in a new tab) Regulated
Other duties (1) — Crown / regulator
  • Licensing authority must grant or refuse collection licences and give written reasonsLocal authority
s.004 Regulations. (opens in a new tab) Regulated
  • Breach of house-to-house collection regulationsAny Person
s.005 Unauthorised use of badges, &c. (opens in a new tab) Regulated
  • Use unauthorised charity collection badge or certificateAny Person
s.006 Collector to give name, &c. to police on demand. (opens in a new tab) Regulated
  • Fail to give name and address to police when collecting for charityAny Person
s.008 Penalties. (opens in a new tab) Imprisonment
  • Provide false information for house-to-house collection purposesAny Person
6 other provisions — procedural and definitional
s.003 Exemptions in the case of collections over wide areas. (opens in a new tab)
s.007 Delegation of functions. (opens in a new tab)
s.009 Application to metropolitan police district. (opens in a new tab)
s.010 Application to Scotland. (opens in a new tab)
s.011 Interpretation. (opens in a new tab)
s.012 †Short title, commencement, interpretation and extent. (opens in a new tab)

Help complying

Guvnor’s practical routes through this instrument.

1 more guide that reference this instrument
Get licences for street collections, house-to-house collections and charity lotteries

Duty extraction and severity labels are Guvnor’s analysis of the instrument, not the instrument itself. Always verify against the linked source text.